School board backs effort to keep gender identity out of Title IX regs

The Lincoln Parish School Board has officially backed state leaders in their lawsuit against the federal government that seeks to undo new rule changes that ban discrimination against gender identity.

Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho have filed suit against the U. S. Department of Education over newly issued rules under Title IX — the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education — that would expand its protections to include gender identity.

At a special meeting Tuesday, the Lincoln Parish School Board voted unanimously to pass a resolution expressing its support of the lawsuit.

While 17 school systems around the state joined the suit as plaintiffs when it was first filed in April, Tuesday’s action doesn’t do that. The largely symbolic move is essentially a statement of the board’s position.

Supporters of the Title IX updates say they would protect the rights of transgender students, but opponents from Baton Rouge to Ruston say the new rules threaten to impede women’s rights in the process.

“We may not intend to discriminate against girls, but should (the rule changes) happen, discrimination against girls, however you define that, could in fact happen,” board President Gregg Phillips said before the vote.

Both the lawsuit and local officials say the updated Title IX could prevent schools from separating bathrooms by biological sex and have pointed to this as one of their main concerns.

“There are females out there who feel absolutely imposed on when a male is given the opportunity to come in and dress, undress, in front of them,” Phillips said before the meeting. “They feel like they’re kicked out of their own bathroom, their own locker room. So this is a respect issue for biological females.”

According to the resolution, the board also believes the new rules would increase its liability risk as complaint investigations increase.

Before the vote, Assistant Superintendent John Young read a list of “affirmations” aimed at assuring students would be protected regardless of the Title IX outcome.

“With or without rules, we will still seek to protect all students from harm and discrimination in Lincoln Parish schools,” Young said.

District 11 board member George Mack, Jr. discussed amending the resolution to add these disclaimers to the language but ultimately declined motioning to do so.

When asked after the meeting if those pledged protections from discrimination include gender identity, Young said they apply to “all students” and that schools in the parish already work out accommodations for some transgender students on a case-by-case basis.

Super intendent Ricky Durrett said Thursday principals over the years have met with students and their parents to “make every kid as comfortable as possible coming to school and getting an education.”

“We have had kids that weren’t comfortable, whether they’re born males and identifying as females, not comfortable using the restroom,” Durrett said. “ We have a few restrooms on campuses that are just single-person facilities that we’ve allowed them to use, trying not to single them out or embarrass them.”

He said he believes these accommodations help make students comfortable without making other students uncomfortable — a balance he said the new Title IX rules would not allow.

“We still want to be respectful of differing beliefs, but there’s a way to respect that and not discriminate against anyone without infringing on others,” Durrett said.

Officials say gender identity accommodations have never come up in athletics across parish schools.

Though Title IX governs all aspects of education, athletics often receives the brunt of public focus, and this latest slate of changes is no exception.

“We support our biological females as they compete in athletics,” Phillips said.

A handful of collegiate athletes across the nation have become the target of political turmoil as they compete in gendered sports outside their sex of birth. But these cases are few and far between.

Louisiana’s 2022 law called the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” requires K-12 and collegiate sports to be separated by biological sex. The Title IX lawsuit claims the new federal regulations violate this state law.

Both the Louisiana Department of Education and the Louisiana High School Athletic Association have released to school districts guidance urging them to leave their Title IX practices unchanged as the state pursues this litigation.

“It remains my position that schools should not alter politics or procedures at this time,” state Superintendent Cade Brumley wrote to district leaders.

The new rules are slated to go into effect nationwide Aug. 1.

School board members Danielle Williams, David Ferguson and Lynda Henderson were absent for Tuesday’s vote.